Despite eight inches of snow, the major winter storms miss Nebraska City

Friday

Feb 22, 2013 at 11:23 AMFeb 22, 2013 at 12:17 PM

Even though Thursday's winter storm dumped seven to eight inches of snow at Nebraska City the worst weather has missed southeast Nebraska.

The Feb. 21 storm caused school closings and Elster American Meter did not require its second or third shifts to come in as a safety precaution.

"We had a couple of cars in the ditch off of the highways, but overall people listened to the forecasts and stayed home," said Mike Holland, chief Otoe County sheriff's deputy. "The traffic was light and the drivers that were out drove at reasonable speeds," he said.

Dan Swanson

Even though Thursday's winter storm dumped seven to eight inches of snow at Nebraska City the worst weather has missed southeast Nebraska.

The Feb. 21 storm caused school closings and Elster American Meter did not require its second or third shifts to come in as a safety precaution.

"We had a couple of cars in the ditch off of the highways, but overall people listened to the forecasts and stayed home," said Mike Holland, chief Otoe County sheriff's deputy. "The traffic was light and the drivers that were out drove at reasonable speeds," he said.

The brunt of the storm went through Kansas, where the National Weather Service reports snow as deep as 15 inches. A 200-mile stretch of Interstate 70 was closed.

The storm followed a Feb. 11 blast in the Northeast, which delivered on predictions of record-setting snowfall. Snow depths of 16 inches were reported at Edwards, N.Y.

Nebraska City street crews began clearing Thursday's snow at 11 a.m. and continued through 2:30 a.m. on Friday.

Dan Giittinger, public properties director, said motorists did well. "As long as you drive safely, it's fairly manageable," he said.

The parks department was out at 5 a.m. clearing sidewalks in the central business district.

Giittinger said wind was not a factor overnight. "Toward the end of the night, there was no wind at all," he said.